Star Wars novel reading order
- Thread starter JD
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Most of the things that happened between The Thrawn Trilogy and the Hand of Thrawn duology isn't important. They are mostly warlord of the week type stories. It isn't until the New Jedi Order series that big things happen.
I'm not a fan of the Jedi Academy Trilogy. If you want to know what happens in it, you might read I, Jedi instead. It follows a pilot/jedi while the events in the Jedi Academy Trilogy are taking place.
I heard the X-Wing novels are good, but I've never had the chance to check them out myself. They seem to be really popular with most Star Wars fans.
If you thought Vader and the Emperor were cool in the movies, you might want to check out the Darth Bane trilogy. These books take place one thousand years before TMP. I thought they were nicely written and gave some interesting background on the Sith Lords. They are also really fun.
I'm not a fan of the Jedi Academy Trilogy. If you want to know what happens in it, you might read I, Jedi instead. It follows a pilot/jedi while the events in the Jedi Academy Trilogy are taking place.
I heard the X-Wing novels are good, but I've never had the chance to check them out myself. They seem to be really popular with most Star Wars fans.
If you thought Vader and the Emperor were cool in the movies, you might want to check out the Darth Bane trilogy. These books take place one thousand years before TMP. I thought they were nicely written and gave some interesting background on the Sith Lords. They are also really fun.
Hand of Thrawn and the later X-Wing novels are excellent, as above. The Corellian Trilogy becomes bizarrely important in later EU given its mediocrity, so it might be worth a look. I really like Children of the Jedi and Planet of Twilight, but that's a minority opinion.
Do NOT read Children of the Jedi and Planet of Twilight. They are widely considered the worse Star Wars books of all time by fans. Just take a look at some of the reviews on Amazon if you don't believe me.
There was no "decline"
The novel portion of the post-OT Expanded Universe in my opinion was never a feasible franchise by itself. Aside from the elements of the original trilogy such as Han, Luke and Leia, the EU failed to appeal to the readership with any of their derivative characters and concepts (Jacen, Anakin II, the Vong etc).
The "decline" is nothing, but the continued inability of the novels to stand on its own coupled with the fact that the OT characters have changed and aged so much that they are nothing like the original movie counterparts and have become unrelatable to the audience at this point
I would say that the NJO era was better written than the Bantam era, which had some really great books but a lot of really bad books as well. For ever Heir to the Empire there were 3 or 4 Crystal Stars. That said, I definitely got sick of the Vong over the course of ?18? books. That's why I enjoyed the LOTF series; it was only 9 books and it was more Star Wars-y than previous books in that it was about the Sith. As for FOTJ... jury's out.
My biggest issue with the novel line since Del Rey took over is all the massive "OMG greatest threat to the galaxy EVAR" multi-book series they keep putting out. There was absolutely no need for NJO to span across nineteen books, nor did LOTF need nine books to tell its story (three of which mostly focused on an almost completely different story, anyway--thanks for playing, Karen Traviss). I'm only just now reading the first book of "Fate of the Jedi," because I'm done buying hardcovers except for big event novels like Matthew Stover's Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor, but I doubt that by the time I've finished the last book, I'll be convinced that FOTJ absolutely needed to be stretched across nine books yet again.
That said, there have been some great shorter stories and standalone novels during the Del Rey era. For the most part, it's usually their NJO-and-beyond series that wind up being disappointing.
That said, there have been some great shorter stories and standalone novels during the Del Rey era. For the most part, it's usually their NJO-and-beyond series that wind up being disappointing.
Agreed.
I actually already read the Jedi Academy trilogy during one of my ealier SW periods, and I do remember liking them. And I do plan on eventually reading the Darth Bane books, possibly once I get through the Clone Wars stuff.
I've also tried Children of the Jedi twice, and couldn't get past the second chapter. I haven't read any of the X-Wing books yet, but I might check them out.
^^ Those were the two worst SW books, actually!
As for FOTJ, it is a little padded. The books are barely 300 pages each and practically nothing happened in #2 that didn't already happen in #1 or in #3. But now that they've introduced the mystery enemy things are definitely looking more interesting.
As for FOTJ, it is a little padded. The books are barely 300 pages each and practically nothing happened in #2 that didn't already happen in #1 or in #3. But now that they've introduced the mystery enemy things are definitely looking more interesting.
If you're a big enough SW fan that you want to read the novels and have the time, I suggest reading all of them. Everyone's list of good and bad novels is different, and even the most universally reviled books are loved by somebody, as evidenced by Steve's opinion of Children of the Jedi. You can always read a wiki summary if you're really not digging something.
Piffle. Whether you like them or not, it's a categorical fact that tons of these books landed on the New York Times bestseller list, which would seem to indicate that someone is buying them.
^Pretty all of them have (at the ones that are parts of the main series), even up to the last couple.
As for the EU characters, I've liked most of them just as much as I have the movie ones. When I first tried to read the NJO (back during one of my other SW periods I read the first 5) I really like the Solo kids, Mara, and Corran especially.
As for the EU characters, I've liked most of them just as much as I have the movie ones. When I first tried to read the NJO (back during one of my other SW periods I read the first 5) I really like the Solo kids, Mara, and Corran especially.
You like Corran Horn and you never read X-Wing!? What are you waiting for!
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